


See You Again

by jordieey



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Afterlife, BAMF Tauriel, Brotherly Love, Character Death, Declarations Of Love, F/M, Gen, Happy Ending, Legolas Greenleaf & Tauriel Friendship, Love Confessions, OCs - Freeform, POV Tauriel, Past Character Death, Post-Canon, Reunions, Sad with a Happy Ending, Tauriel Dies, Tauriel is badass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-09-23 19:08:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17086022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jordieey/pseuds/jordieey
Summary: In the end, it was Tauriel's own stupidity that got her killed.Or: Tauriel dies and reunites with Kili in the afterlife.(Will be two parts.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just assume everyone's speaking Elvish unless talking to a non-elf.

In the end, it was Tauriel’s own stupidity that got her killed. 

The call of the Undying Lands had been in the back of her mind for years now--decades--but, for one reason or another, she always resisted it. Oh, she had many reasons: she needed to protect her city, Legolas was still in Middle-Earth, she wanted to see the War of the Ring through to the end. 

Tauriel had many, /good/ reasons for refusing the peace and serenity the Undying Lands would give her. 

But perhaps there was another reason--one she refused to fully acknowledge.

A little voice whispering to her in the silence of the night: ‘Do you really wish to live forever?’

Did she? Tauriel thought, as she nursed a stab wound in her side. It was not life-threatening, but painful nonetheless. Those damn orcs. 

Did Tauriel desire to live eternally? To leave Middle-Earth and live a tranquil, neverending existence. Tauriel was a warrior, through and through--had been since before she became Captain of the Guard. Giving that up for a life of everlasting peace seemed...absurd.

And yet, Middle-Earth was poisoned. By the Ring, by Sauron, and the greed of Men. The time of the elves was over. Tauriel could not remain on Middle-Earth for much longer. She knew this. 

Nor could she see herself living in the Undying Lands. To live in stasis; dare she say, live a monotonous existence. 

“Are they out?” Tauriel said, forcing herself to her feet. 

Fraeya turned from where she was warily peering out into the forest. Her gaze darted to Tauriel’s wound, disapproval in her blue eyes. 

“Yes. Captain Shiera has managed to drive them out--you need not worry.” Fraeya sheathed her dagger and placed her hand on Tauriel’s arm. “You must rest, Tauriel. You are injured.” 

“It is a mere scratch,” Tauriel dismissed, brushing her off. “We have more important things to worry about.” 

Ignoring her friend’s disapproving frown, Tauriel set her quiver in her lap, counting the arrows. Eight. That was not nearly enough, but she would have to make do. She had rested too long already; Tauriel’s city needed her, captain or not.

Walking toward the uncovered window Fraeya had been looking out moments before, Tauriel braced a foot on the ledge and notched an arrow. She peered out carefully, eyes narrowing as she took in the army of orcs, still trying to invade /her/ city. 

They would ravage it over her dead body. 

Orcs were disgusting creatures, with nearly bald heads and grey or blackened skin. Their pointed ears, such a mockery of elves, always angered Tauriel. She relished ending their miserable existence. 

Shooting the first orc she could, Tauriel leaped into the air, landing on the shoulders of an orc and sending them both falling. She rolled, on her feet once again, and whipped around. Arrow in hand, the elf rammed the pointed end underneath the orc’s chin, piercing its skull. 

/This is for you, mui mel/* Tauriel thought for what must have been the two thousandth time in sixty years. How many times had she dedicated her fights to the lost dwarf, feeling as if every kill avenged Kili in some way? Too many to count. 

Fraeya thought her “pining” was pathetic. In the beginning, right after Kili’s death, she had been convinced Tauriel would simply get over him in a few months’ time. That was not to be.

Yanking her arrow out of the orc, Tauriel spun around, red tresses fanning, and promptly jabbed it into the eye of yet another creature. She rolled along the ground, tucking the arrow back into her quiver and unsheathing her knife. A quick slash and yet another godforsaken creature fell, spraying black blood onto Tauriel’s face. Despite herself, Tauriel felt her lips turn up in a vicious smirk. Oh, how she reveled the death of orcs, knowing there would be no pleasant afterlife for them. They would not pass into the Halls of Mandos, nor torment Kili in whatever afterlife he was in. No, they could burn eternally for all she cared. 

A slight movement in the air alerted Tauriel to Fraeya joining the battle. Tauriel cast a quick look over her shoulder, eyebrows rising as she sent her blade into the temple of yet another orc.

“Whoever kills the most wins?” Tauriel shouted, kicking an orc in the stomach and almost slicing its head clean off. 

“But of course, mellon*; we both know I will win.” 

Tauriel slashed the throat of yet another foul creature. “We shall see.” 

On and on they fought, driving the dark forces away from their city. They were soon joined by reinforcements, lead by the Captain of the Guard, Shiera Woodward. She was graceful in her fight, blades flashing in the sunlight as she felled enemy after enemy. A true Captain of the Guard. Perhaps an even better one than Tauriel had been. 

“On your left!” called a male elf, whose name Tauriel couldn’t remember. 

Whipping around, Tauriel grabbed the orc’s wrist just as it attempted to bring its sword down upon her. She bent its arm back, sending a blade into its gut with her free hand. She sent the body over the stone bridge, advancing into the forest. 

And then the ground shook. 

The snarls gave them away first. As Tauriel slayed another enemy, her eyes scanned the forest, not yet seeing this new challenge. 

“Curse it to Mordor and back!” someone growled. 

“That son of snakes,” the captain cursed. “He would dare send Uruk-hai here?” 

“It seems as though he does,” Tauriel murmured, notching an arrow. Up until now, she had avoided shooting her arrows in order to preserve her supply, but if Uruk-hai were coming, she may very well need them. 

Captain Shiera appeared on Tauriel’s left, decapitating an orc with one stroke of her sword. She turned, surveying the elven warriors with seriouses green eyes. With her black hair in disarray, blood spattered on her armor, and dripping from her sword, Captain Shiera looked every inch the warrior. There was reason she had replaced Tauriel. 

“I need six guards with me to take down these filth,” she ordered, her voice ringing out authoritatively. “The rest of you, stay here and guard the city.” 

Tauriel sprang into action immediately. She would not be left behind--not if her city was protected, and there was a greater fight somewhere else. Perhaps it was unhealthy, but she lived for these battles. These were the moments when she felt most alive--when her blood sung in her veins, her heart pounding against her ribcage. Something about fighting fighting for the life of herself and others was...invigorating. 

And sometimes, when she was in the throes of it, Tauriel would imagine she saw Kili out the corner of her eye, fighting alongside her. As it should have been. 

Tauriel ran through the forest, pain flaring in her side where she’d been stabbed. She continued to ignore it, focusing on the pounding feet rushing toward them. 

Fraeya shot her a grin. “I’ve killed twelve,” she declared brightly.

“Fifteen,” Tauriel shot back, a bit smugly. 

“There’s still time,” her friend commented, panting a bit. “I will win this.” 

“We shall see.” 

They rushed the Uruk-hai, the forest soon filled with clangs of metal and the dying shrieks of their enemy. 

Tauriel ducked and parried, rolled along the ground shoved her knife into vulnerable parts of the Uruk-hai’s armor. She exchanged her knife for a sword, chopping off heads and limbs alike, only using her arrows when absolutely necessary. 

The heady rush she enjoyed so much flooded her systems, so much so that it took her some to realize her wound had bled through the hastily applied bandage. And that it kept bleeding at an alarming rate. 

Yanking her sword out of the stomach Uruk-hai, Tauriel became suddenly aware of the wetness in her side. With it, she realized she was dizzy.

This was fine. She had dealt with this before, Tauriel thought as she chopped off an Uruk-hai’s arm at the elbow. She had faced battle with much more grievous wounds. 

Tauriel must have lost more blood than she thought, because her elven grace failed her. Just for a moment. Enough to make her stumble. 

Tauriel’s pause, short though it was, cost her. Something hit Tauriel in the back of her leg. If it had not been for her stab wound, she might have only stumbled, maybe fallen to one knee for a second, and gotten back up. She had suffered many injuries in battle before, and had not allowed allowed them to slow her down. Kili’s death had seen to that. She’d been too slow too save him. Never again. 

As it was, the combination of the blood loss and taking an arrow to the leg sent Tauriel reeling. She tumbled to her hands and knees, panting harshly as her sword slipped from her grasp. 

“Tauriel!” Fraeya called frantically. Out the corner of her eye, Tauriel saw the male elf from earlier fighting toward her. 

There was an Uruk-hai standing over her. Tauriel snatched her knife from her belt, and drove it into the creature’s exposed calf. It let out an angry roar, and before Tauriel could even pull her knife back out, the Uruk-hai kicked her in the side, sending Tauriel onto her back. 

Fraeya screamed her name again. 

Ironically, Tauriel thought, /This is just like how Kili died./

The Uruk-hai sneered at her, baring sharp, disgusting teeth. Another one joined it, and for all her centuries of fighting, Tauriel could not force herself to her feet. Especially when the second Uruk-hai kicked her with its steel toed boots.

The sword came down.

In the end, it was Tauriel’s own stupidity that got her killed.


	2. The Choice

Tauriel wasn’t exactly sure what she expected the afterlife to be like.

Well, in all honesty, death had not been something she gave much thought––especially before Kili died. She was an elf. Elves lived forever unless they were slain or simply faded away. And Tauriel was a good enough fighter that falling in battle seemed more like an abstract concept than a possibility. 

Death had been on her mind more frequently after Kili. Just what happened to dwarves after they departed from the physical world? Did they have an afterlife, like they believed, or did they simply cease to exist?

The thought that, even if she should perish, Tauriel would exist in a different afterlife altogether, had broken her heart on more than one occasion. 

And so, Tauriel left the physical plane with truly no idea as to what would happen next…

She awakened to a blue sky. Small wisps of clouds dotted the natural canvas, and Tauriel felt an overwhelming sensation of utter...peace.

All the pain she had carried, all the responsibility that had weighed down on her shoulders seemed a distant memory. Even thinking of Legolas, who would surely be devastated, only made her feel a flicker of sympathy. 

Kili… Thinking of Kili did not hurt as much as it had when she was alive. Tauriel longed to have him in her arms, but at the same time, the image of the playful glint in his eyes as he sat in that cell brought a smile to her face instead of melancholy. 

Tauriel simply lay there for a moment, enjoying the warm sun beating down on her face. She closed her eyes, listening to the soft rustling of trees in the wind, and the cheerful chirping of birds. 

If she were someone else, someone who was not a warrior, she might have been content to simply lay there forever. But Tauriel /was/ a warrior, even when dead, and if she enjoyed peace, then she enjoyed action just as much. 

She got to her feet. Looking around, Tauriel noted that she was in a field. It was simple, in that the trees surrounded her in a circle, leaving a large space of green grass, rustling gently in the wind. As she turned around slowly, Tauriel’s hand fell to her belt, and she noted with surprise that her knife and sword were exactly where they were supposed to be. Interesting. 

Fingering her knife absentmindedly, Tauriel glanced around once more, and then simply started walking. If this truly was the afterlife, then she hoped it consisted of more than a clearing and forest. Peaceful as it was, she didn’t particularly revel the idea of spending the rest of eternity alone, with nothing to do. That was exactly why she had never travelled to the Undying Lands. 

The forest was rather beautiful; Tauriel would give it that. Unlike Mirkwood, there was no hint of sickness or disease. Every tree seemed to be in its prime, with green leaves adorning their branches. The grass was soft underfoot, and various flowers sprung up here and there. 

Tauriel didn’t stop to admire the beauty. She needed to find out if there was more to the afterlife than...this.

So she walked. And eventually, she found herself in a stone hallway. It didn’t happen gradually, either. One moment Tauriel was in a forest, the next she was in a stone hallway, looking as though it belonged to a castle of some kind. 

Blinking in bewilderment, Tauriel turned to look the way she had come, only to find that the forest had disappeared completely. Gone were the lush trees and beautiful flowers, replaced with polished marble. Torches flickered along the walls, too far up for even Tauriel to reach. 

The lighting was much too bright, considering the fact that she was inside, and the position of the torches. Why, it was almost as bright as the outdoors, with a soft white glow emanating from nowhere in particular. 

There were no windows, either, which Tauriel found disconcerting. Elves were connected to the land. To be so utterly cut off from it was unnatural. 

“Just where are you taking me?” Tauriel murmured. She startled at the sound of her own voice, freezing immediately. It almost seemed disrespectful to speak in such a place. 

Which was, of course, ridiculous. There was no one here but Tauriel herself. She need not fear.

On and on she went. In this place––the Halls of Mandos, she guessed––there seemed to be no concept of time. Tauriel could have been walking for hours, days, or mere minutes. The scenery did not change. If Tauriel had not felt her feet move along the stone floor, saw on torch pass her to be replaced with another, she might have suspected she was walking in one place.

Was she being punished? Tauriel wondered at some point. Was she doomed to walk along to walk along an endless hall for the rest of eternity, as some sort of punishment?

Just what was she being punished for anyway? Loving a dwarf, when their races hated each other so? Surely that could not be it. Loving Kili could not be a crime, no matter what others thought.

Kili.

Kili, Kili, Kili, Kili.

The dwarf, with his messy brown hair and shining brown eyes. He was never far from her thoughts, frequenting Tauriel’s mind even more than Legolas. And Legolas still lived. He was the one whose life was endangered in the War of the Ring, who Tauriel still risked losing… Who she had risked losing, when she was still alive to lose him.

Stopping once more, Tauriel glanced back the way she had come. Nothing looked different, she noted absently. Not one thing. The observation did not scare her as much as it should have. 

Kili… she thought. 

Would it be too much to ask to see him again? 

And just like that, the scenery around her changed once more. 

Suddenly Tauriel found herself standing in front of what appeared to be two entrances to two seperate hallways. 

Except for the fact that they each seemed to lead to another world altogether.

“Legolas,” Tauriel breathed, her eyes riveted to her lifelong friend and brotherly figure. He appeared to be in a battle of some sort, his blond hair whipping to and fro as he shot arrow after arrow. 

Uruk-hai fell under Legolas’s relentless assault, and at one point, Tauriel could have sworn he exchanged a smile with a red-haired dwarf.

“Legolas,” she said again, stepping forward and reaching out a desperate hand. Tauriel wanted to step forward, to join Legolas in battle, but something stopped her.

The hallway that had before shown a simple clearing now had people in it. Or, more specifically, dwarves, with perhaps some more species behind them.

Tauriel recognized Thorin Oakenshield from the time he had been imprisoned in Mirkwood. Next to him was a dwarven couple, with a male dwarf sitting with his arm wrapped around who Tauriel assumed to be his partner. 

More dwarves sat around them, each occupied with something or other. Oakenshield, though, was watching the two younger dwarves with amusement glimmering in his eyes. The dark haired one appeared to be attempting––

Tauriel’s breath caught in her throat. 

Kili.

Kili was there, sitting in front of his fair haired brother, grinning as he seemed to attempt to braid the other’s beard.

“Kili,” Tauriel said breathlessly, almost tripping as she went to stand in front of the image. “Kili!” she shouted, /needing/ to be heard. 

It was him. Kili. Her darling dwarf, who she had spent decades mourning, realizing that he had been her One––her only One. Kili, who was as reckless as he was beautiful, who she had fallen for so quickly. 

Her dwarf. Her love. Her Kili. 

Tauriel stepped closer to the moving image, barely restraining herself from running headlong. She needed to go to him, feel him in her arms, hear his stupid jokes––  
But Legolas. Mirkwood. Middle-Earth. Could Tauriel leave her home, her friends?

/You’ve done it before/ a voice whispered, one that sounded remarkably like King Thranduil. Tauriel winced, feeling suddenly ashamed.

But that didn’t lessen her desire to be with Kili.

Looking between the two locations once more, Tauriel took a step toward the one that would bring her back to life. Back to Middle-Earth. Her duty was to Mirkwood. Perhaps, if––when––she died again, she could be with Kili again––

Tauriel froze. Would she have this choice again? Or was this the only chance she had to be with Kili?

What did she do? she thought desperately.

What. Did. She. Do?

Her voice, from decades before, sounded in her head: “Yes, he is my king. But he does not command my heart.”

Tauriel had served Thranduil for centuries, rarely ever bitter about it. She had been a loyal subject, a competent Captain of the Guard. She had obeyed Legolas’s orders as though they were his father’s, even as she looked to him as a brother. 

She loved her city. She loved Legolas and Fraeya, and respected King Thranduil. 

Even still, could she not do this one thing, simply because she wanted to? Middle-Earth likely would not crumble without her in it. If it were to survive, or be conquered by darkness, then it would happen. She was not that the one who would change the outcome of this story.*

Tauriel drew in a deep breath. Her decision had been made.

With one last glance at Legolas, Tauriel smiled softly and murmured, “Goodbye, gwanur.* Forgive me.” 

She stepped through the veil. Toward Kili. 

****  
“Ow! Kili, what in Durin’s name?” was the first thing she heard upon entering the clearing. Unbidden, a smile appeared on Tauriel’s face at the blonde’s complaints. 

Kili, for his part, looked intensely concentrated, tongue sticking out the side of his mouth as he braided his brother’s beard. 

“Shut up, Fili,” he shot back, clearly focused. Fili winced, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Mahal, you’d think you would have learned how to braid properly by now,” he grumbled.

“Boys,” a female dwarf spoke up, sounding fondly exasperated. “Be nice.”

“But Mother––” Kili began. For a moment, he sounded almost childish. Tauriel had to stifle a smile as she silently stepped forward.

The partner of the female dwarf started to say something, and it was then that Fili’s eyes drifted over to her. The annoyance in his eyes faded instantly, and he reached a hand to tug at his brother’s hair. 

“Ow! Fili!” Kili shouted as his head was yanked forward. He moved as if to tackle Fili, a grin alighting his face. But Fili seemed to be having none of this.

“You can be so daft sometimes,” he grumbled, forcefully turning Kili to face Tauriel. As if on cue, the rest of the group spotted her as well. Instantly, quiet mutters erupted.

“Kili’s elleth? What’s she doing her?”

“Is that not the fiery elf maid from Mirkwood?” 

The dwarves’ voices overlapped each other, some seeming merely surprised, others clearly bothered.

But Tauriel only had eyes for Kili. 

She watched as he slowly stood up, eyes locked with hers. With slow steps, he walked toward her in long strides, while Tauriel did the same.

The met in the middle, Kili staring up at her with disbelieving awe, and Tauriel gazing down with barely restrained joy.

Lowering herself to her knees, Tauriel met Kili’s eyes directly.

For a moment, they simply looked at each other, neither knowing what to say. 

And then, slowly, Kili lifted his hand, resting it Tauriel’s cheek delicately. He gazed at her with something akin to awe. 

“Tauriel,” he murmured, “you came. I wasn’t sure you would.” 

Tauriel’s throat suddenly felt tight, her eyes damp. “Of course I did,” she breathed, her eyes hungrily taking in his face. Kili looked so.../alive/. “I never did search you.”

Smirking a bit, Kili said, “You know, I could have anything down my trousers.” His eyebrows rose playfully, despite the tears in his eyes.

“Or nothing.” 

They laughed softly, tears falling down their cheeks as they drank each other in. 

Moving his hand to the back of her neck, Kili closed his eyes and brought their foreheads together. 

Tauriel, recognizing the gesture as unique to dwarves, almost jerked back. She forced herself to relax, closing her eyes. For a moment, only they existed, together in the starlight. 

And then Kili pulled away, carefully cupping Tauriel’s face once more. She rested her hand atop his, leaning into it.

“Tauriel…” Kili said. “Amrâlimê.”

Smiling softly, Tauriel replied, “Im mel cin, mui Kili.” *

Pulling Kili closer, Tauriel kissed him. And this time, the lips that had once been cold with death, kissed her back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations: 
> 
> "She was not that the one who would change the outcome of this story." This is sort of a reference to the fact that Tauriel didn't exist in LOTR, or The Hobbit book. I'm not bashing; I actually quite like her.
> 
> Gwanur––brother.
> 
> “Im mel cin, mui Kili.”--'I love you, my Kili." Elvish.
> 
>  
> 
> Reviews, please?

**Author's Note:**

> Translations:
> 
> 1\. "my love"  
> 2\. "friend"
> 
> Reviews? Second part will be out soonish.


End file.
